Well, the trees should have helped prevent erosion but I guess it's just too loose. In order to preserve the rest of the neighborhood I'd suggest building an in ground wall down to the water table. I've seen them do it from the top of weak levees to reinforce them.

/I'm not trained as a civil engineer//I'm educated as an ME.///CE's build targets, ME's unbuild them.

89 Stick-Up Kid:My brother's place is on the verge of collapse too. Sad story but inevitable with the slope on his property. The inspector gave it less than 2 years before the place slides into the sound.

So, what's his insurance agent think of that? And the local property assessor?

being someone who lives on Whidbey Island and is NOT rich I can tell you just why these landslides happen. people get stupid with their property and remove the firs and maples that grow on the burms and banks that keep the soil in place. Then like it does in washington it rains for days on end, over saturating the ground and then you get this. These homes I can tell you are at a minimum 1 million dollars or more. I actually know one of the dudes whose house was spared by exactly 1 house down from the mudslide. I am not surprised at all this happens.

Maximum Snark:being someone who lives on Whidbey Island and is NOT rich I can tell you just why these landslides happen. people get stupid with their property and remove the firs and maples that grow on the burms and banks that keep the soil in place. Then like it does in washington it rains for days on end, over saturating the ground and then you get this. These homes I can tell you are at a minimum 1 million dollars or more. I actually know one of the dudes whose house was spared by exactly 1 house down from the mudslide. I am not surprised at all this happens.

1. Hand over your wallet, bank account #'s and any weapons. These are evil remnants of your previous life as an unwashed capitalistic pig agent of the Bush Devil.2. Abandon any hope of making money. The park will provide for your every need.3. Bundle. There is only ONE bundle for information, TV and phone. (tapped, because you cannot ever be trusted. It's for your own safety)4. Any home without the proper Hammer/Sycle flag flying will be burned to the ground in the name of preserving the serenity of the others.5. You must burn Old Glory once a week to remain a member in good standing with the HOA.6. Inspections of premises can occur at any time without warrant. Any home WITHOUT images of Che, Hugo Chavez or Lenin will be duly noted and subject to re-indoctrination processes.

JohnAnnArbor:89 Stick-Up Kid: My brother's place is on the verge of collapse too. Sad story but inevitable with the slope on his property. The inspector gave it less than 2 years before the place slides into the sound.

So, what's his insurance agent think of that? And the local property assessor?

Assessor has been the usual f*ck you pay me and the insurance is priced out from what they can afford. To stable the slope would be hundreds of thousands and probably wouldn't be 100% against future slides. His wife inherited the place from her grandfather so it's basically their fault for not selling the place years ago when the market was hot.

wildcardjack:Well, the trees should have helped prevent erosion but I guess it's just too loose. In order to preserve the rest of the neighborhood I'd suggest building an in ground wall down to the water table. I've seen them do it from the top of weak levees to reinforce them.

/I'm not trained as a civil engineer//I'm educated as an ME.///CE's build targets, ME's unbuild them.

A lot of the soil up here is effectively sand. When I lived in Magnolia and the outflow pipe (clay) collapsed, the plumbers had to build a trench out of sheets of plywood to get to it, because the sandy soil just kept collapsing on them. They ended up just filling in the hole with the wood in there.